ROLE OF DOPPLER ULTRASONOGRAPHY IN THE PREDICTION OF PREGNANCY OUTCOME IN WOMEN WITH RECURRENT SPONTANEOUS-ABORTION

We prospectively studied 96 patients with a history of recurrent spont aneous abortion to determine whether the resistive index of the main u terine artery or subchorionic vessels can allow prediction of pregnanc y outcome. The subchorionic RI declined progressively from a mean of 0 .54 at 6 weeks to 0.42 at 13 weeks (P < 10(-8), F-test). No significan t difference was found in subchorionic RI values between outcomes for liveborn infants versus loss. Uterine artery RI values also declined s ignificantly through the first trimester (P < 10(-8), F-test). Uterine artery RI values tended to be lower in pregnancies ending in loss tha n in successful gestations; however, there was too much overlap for th is index to be clinically useful. In conclusion, first trimester RI do es not allow prediction of pregnancy outcome in patients with recurren t abortion.